Chonyo functioned as a warrior of the Yuuzhan Vong, and he served as a crew member on the Crimson Axe prior to 137 ABY in the year. The Crimson Axe was a vessel under the captaincy of Rav, a well-known Feeorin pirate whose crew of opportunity assisted in attacks on ships and settlements across the galaxy. While a member of the crew, Chonyo instructed the young Human Jariah Syn in the art of manipulating Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and in the operation of outlawed Yuuzhan Vong weapons, including both thud bugs and amphistaffs. Syn had become proficient in the use of both by 137 ABY. Chonyo was a speaker of Yuuzhan Vong, a language which he also passed on to Syn.
John Ostrander and Jan Duursema were the creators of Chonyo, who was initially referenced, though not by name, in the comic series Star Wars: Legacy within the seventeenth issue in 2007. His identification occurred later, in 2010, within the forty-fourth issue of the same series.